Only one thing can be said for sure about Saturday's football game against Wake Forest--one team will finish with a conference victory. Unless, of course, the two teams tie.
And the way the Blue Devils have been playing this year, a tie might just bring down the goalposts at Wallace Wade Stadium. Duke (2-6, 0-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) enters the contest on a five-game losing streak, which is just one longer than Wake Forest's four-game slide.
To make the situation more embarrassing, the Demon Deacons' only win was a 30-7 victory over Navy, the same team which handed the Blue Devils their third loss of the season on Sept. 30.
Both Duke and Wake are coming off of tough losses. The Demon Deacons were defeated by North Carolina 30-7, in a game in which the Deacons had numerous scoring opportunities but could not convert.
Duke, of course, lost its closest game of the year when it fell to N.C. State in the final minutes, 41-38, last Saturday. Still, head coach Fred Goldsmith said the team's morale hasn't been affected by the close loss.
"Our team has been practicing hard the past couple of days," Goldsmith said. "We had a good, hard two-hour practice [Tuesday], working a lot on fundamentals. We hit a real low a couple of weeks ago, and I think we've gotten back in practice to where we want to be."
Last year against Wake, the nationally-ranked Blue Devils capitalized on three early Demon Deacon turnovers and cruised to a 51-26 victory. This year should be different, as the Duke defense isn't the dominant force it was a year ago. Many of this year's defensive lapses have resulted from injuries, especially those of senior linebacker John Zuanich and sophomore linebacker LeVance McQueen.
"We probably don't have the ability to get to the quarterback like we did a year ago," Goldsmith said. "The loss of speed guys, guys that can run, has really hurt us. Taking them off the field made us very common speed-wise. Those guys missing--you know guys who run 4.9 [seconds in the 40-yard dash]--don't rush the passer like [faster players] do."
The other difference from last year is that the Demon Deacons are a very improved team, even though their record is just 1-7 (0-5 in the ACC). Two of their losses were squeakers--a 9-6 loss against Maryland, and a 24-22 loss to Appalachian State in which the Demon Deacons scored all of their points in the second half.
"I think we're a better football team than at any time I have been here," Wake head coach Jim Caldwell said. "Our record doesn't indicate that, but I think the teams we've played, we're playing better and playing more consistently, and just a couple of plays away here and there. We are playing better. There's no question about that.
"But when I watched Duke play against N.C. State, that looked like the same team that they won all those ballgames with last year. Their defense is pretty much the same. And if you ask me, I think [sophomore running back Laymarr] Marshall ran in that ballgame as well as [Robert] Baldwin ran last year. He ran hard, he ran tough. I see the exact same team that we saw last year."
The Demon Deacons are quarterbacked by three-sport participant Rusty LaRue, who also is a key contributor to the basketball team and a pitcher on the baseball team.
This year, LaRue has been inconsistent, starting with Wake's opener, when he was benched in the second half for his paltry performance.
LaRue's highlight for the year came against Virginia, when he was 28-of-44 for 277 yards, a career high in completions and yardage.
Caldwell said that despite being injured on and off throughout the entire year, LaRue did practice this week and will be the starter on Saturday.
Most of this year's Demon Deacon offense has been focused on the passing game, since Wake has had to fight from behind in most of its ballgames. Also, Wake has had an oft-injured offensive line, which has limited the running game.
Caldwell thinks the key for Wake to win Saturday's game is to control the game offensively, so that its defense doesn't have to be on the field as much.
If that occurs, Caldwell is confident Wake can win what he predicts will be an offensive shootout.
"The big thing in dealing with Duke is that their offense is so productive that the defense is going to have to control the football," Caldwell said.
"If we can control this game offensively, whether it's running the ball or our short passing game, or our long game, as long as we hold the ball and put it in the end zone, I think we can win this ballgame."
For Duke, the key may be its emotion. For the senior class, this is its last home football game. The senior football players have experienced both the ups and downs of Duke football--ranging from last year's bowl bid to the 1993 disaster of going 3-8.
With hopes of a winning season gone by the wayside, all the seniors can hope for is a victory in their final home contest. If they play with the same emotion they showed in the second half against N.C. State, they may just accomplish their goal.
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